A Place in the Sky

Jeff Dersh’s Cielo Ridge house is grounded in modern luxury

By Rachel Benavidez

People who live in glass houses could take a tip from Jeff Dersh, a Pennsylvania transplant with a taste for cool, contemporary architecture and the sweeping views of North Central San Antonio. He has both, just outside the floor-to-ceiling glass walls and windows of his hillside home. The cantilevered design makes the structure appear as if it’s floating under a canopy of trees on Cielo Ridge, an effect that earned it the name, “the tree house.”

“It’s the coolest house in the city,” Dersh declares. “It’s unlike any other house in SA. It’s an engineering marvel.”

The house is 3,000 feet of open living space, including two bedrooms, three baths and Dersh’s favorite room: the combination living room/dining room/ kitchen—a collection of rooms that flow, one into the other, in a pool of natural light, stone, glass, steel and wood.

“There’s nothing under that part of the house,” Dersh says, explaining the unique structural supports that allow the room to jut out from the foundation, supported by horizontal beams. “It looks like you’re just hanging there. You walk to the edge of that room and there are the most amazing Hill Country views. You look down and you can see 20 feet below,” he says, delighted at the effect. “One person who thought about buying the house decided she couldn’t deal with the height.”

Dersh’s “uber contemporary” home was put on the market in fall 2011, listed with FitzGibbons and Associates at $1.4 million. In December, it was part of a Modern Homes Tour, receiving about 100 visitors. Built in 2007, Dersh has been its sole owner and occupant. “I’m 47 years old,” he says. “I’ll have to work until I’m 70 years old to pay for this house, if I keep it, and I’d rather focus on quality of life than having the nicest house in San Antonio... I just decided to downsize, I guess.”

The psychologist has purchased a house in Schearer Hills, near the Quarry. “Areal mid-century modern designed by a pretty well-known San Antonio architect, Joe Williams,” Dersh says. He has good luck—or good taste—in architects. Another acclaimed name, Davis Sprinkle of Sprinkle & Co. Architects, designed the Cielo Ridge home, using Dersh’s West Coast inspiration.

“Out in California, they are very into this inside-outside living and the use of floor-to-ceiling glass to make it very open to the outside,” Dersh says. Indoors, he displays contemporary European-style furniture mixed with locally constructed pieces and local art that reflects his preference for clean lines, cool hues and a comfortable, easygoing vibe.

Designing the outdoors was a different story. “Basically, I ran out of money to work on the landscaping and it looked like a bomb had gone off,” he recalls. “I had to walk on a plank to get into the house.”

That was four years ago. Dersh and landscape designer Billy Lambert have transformed the grounds into a mix of xeriscaping and sustainable greens. “We worked like 10-20 hours a week to get it to a point where it actually looks nice,” Dersh says. “It’s been really crazy and interesting work for a psychologist. It has been therapeutic for me, I guess. Billy is like my environmental therapist… Yeah, I think I like that.”

The home’s design has received high honors, recognized by the San Antonio American Institute of Architecture and written about by design connoisseurs. “It’s really just beautiful. I feel like I’m surrounded by beauty, from the moment I turn on the lights to when I go to sleep at night. It’s like a visual feast. It’s simply beautiful and I experience that every day.”

This article appears in the February 2012 issue of San Antonio Magazine